Women and Social Movements Library

The Women and Social Movements collection of products constitute a resource for students and scholars of U.S./World history and U.S./World women's history. Organized around the history of women in social movements between 1600 and the present, the collection seeks to advance scholarly debates and understanding at the same time that it makes the insights of women's history accessible to teachers and students at universities, colleges, and high schools.

Featured Content

In the summer of 1935, a group of women formed an organization to act as an ally for workers during labor disputes. The group called itself the League of Women Shoppers (LWS) in order to recruit female consumers across racial and class lines. Its slogan, "Use your buying power for justice," displayed the group's intent to use its members' shopping dollars to influence the outcome of work stoppages and protests. The LWS activists highlighted many of the problems associated with industrial capitalism and empowered middle-class women to act in solidarity with workers across race, class, and geographic lines.

The editors of Women and Social Movements International organized two extraordinary sessions at the 2011 Berkshire Conference in Women's History, assembling six leaders who have shaped women’s international activism through the United Nations' Conferences on Women, 1975-1995. Here you can access the interview of Sonia Alvarez. Other interviewees include: Charlotte Bunch; Arvonnne Fraser; Rounaq Jahan; Devaki Jain; Mildred Persinger and Peggy Simpson.

This magazine issue discusses various matters related to the concerns of Arab women, including higher education and family matters. It is part of the document cluster entitled The Ottoman and post-Ottoman Empires in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1860-2015 edited by Beth Baron (CUNY) with Secil Yilmaz (CUNY) and Nova Robinson (Rutgers).